Person of the year - Richard Lynch aka Rich Anthon

gihj

Poxyshamrock wrote: »

Richard Lynch only really promotes Limerick to Limerick people.
Selling snow to Eskimos rings a bell.

Celia Holman Lee does a good job of promoting Limerick on a national scale.

That's a matter of opinion.
Celia doesn't do all that work for free.

The Snipe

Savage Henry wrote: »

Not when a self-obsessed blogger is awarded person of the year over a woman that raised €1,000,000 for charity. Guess which one sets a better example for our city and what it means to be person of the year. I'll give you a hint, it isn't the first one.

Actually, Richard and Tina are really good friends, and Richard helped tirelessly in supporting in a lot of the local causes mentioned.

digitaldolf

I can see that a lot of ye don't really have any idea of what Richard does and why he gets his face in a lot of newspapers and media. It's quite simple you know.
The better Richard gets known, the more he can do for charities. There's a lot going on behind the scenes that you have no idea of. He organised a whole day in which charities got a chance to network. He helps charities to get exposure. With the help of the ilovelimerick films, funds were raised. And there's a lot more. What you see is just a little bit of what 's going on.
And by the way: ilovelimerick.com won a national award as well for highlighting cultural diversity in Limerick. Richard himself wanted Tina to win the award and has supported Tina and highlighted her fantastic fundraising on numerous occasions but he deserves it himself as well.
He doesn't get into every photo because of vanity. He gets into photos because the better he gets known the more he can do for Limerick and charities. Believe me: there's not that much in it for him.
Thanks for people here who actually stand up for him or at least give him the benefit of the doubt. I know him very well. He's one of my best friends and once you really get to know him and know what he's about, you can only admire him. He's not a saint, far from it, but he's a great guy with the heart in the right place and a wonderful friend. And with all the networking and organising he's doing for charities and Limerick organisations, a worthy winner of this award.

Savage Henry

digitaldolf wrote: »

I can see that a lot of ye don't really have any idea of what Richard does and why he gets his face in a lot of newspapers and media. It's quite simple you know.
The better Richard gets known, the more he can do for charities. There's a lot going on behind the scenes that you have no idea of. He organised a whole day in which charities got a chance to network. He helps charities to get exposure. With the help of the ilovelimerick films, funds were raised. And there's a lot more. What you see is just a little bit of what 's going on.
And by the way: ilovelimerick.com won a national award as well for highlighting cultural diversity in Limerick. Richard himself wanted Tina to win the award and has supported Tina and highlighted her fantastic fundraising on numerous occasions but he deserves it himself as well.
He doesn't get into every photo cause he's vain. The better he gets known the more he can do for Limerick and charities. Believe me: there's not that much in it for him.
Thanks for people here who actually stand up for him or at least give him the benefit of the doubt. I know him very well. He's one of my best friends and once you really get to know him and know what he's about, you can only admire him. He's not a saint, far from it, but he's a great guy with the heart in the right place and a wonderful friend. And with all the networking and organising he's doing for charities and Limerick organisations, a worthy winner of this award.

So we are not giving him enough credit now is it? Christ you couldn't make this **** up.

Maybe he should give Tina the award then if he feels so strongly about it.

digitaldolf

Poxyshamrock wrote: »

Richard Lynch only really promotes Limerick to Limerick people.

Exactly, you almost hit the nail on the head. I will explain how it works by taking Richard as an example.
A lot of people form an opinion about Richard by what they see. What they see is Richard the performer. He is asked to host charity fashion shows because of the performance he puts down.
People expect him to be out there, dancing and making a show of himself.
I heard and saw reactions as: "he's so full of himself". WRONG. He's not doing it for himself. He's there to support the charity.
What people don't know is that he's sometimes out there, completely exhausted because of a bad night (he's a full time carer) but doesn't want to let the organisation down.
He's also constantly on the look-out for people who can contribute to his efforts and when he's networking, he's talking to people to find out what they do and if they can mean anything to the organisations he supports. This is sometimes seen as "Richard only wants to talk to you if you're useful to him". WRONG. He has a lot of friends and really cares for them.
You also don't see all the work he does when he's not on stage or in the paper, bringing organisations together, working on people in the council or on politicians to show their support and get involved..... But, as I said, people seem to form an opinion of him by what they see or hear.

Now to come back to selling Limerick to the Limerick people: Limerick people have been bombarded with bad press about certain areas in their city.
Because of that, people from those areas were stigmatised, not just by outsiders but also by Limerick people. For example. A national crime TV programme came to Southill and were shown a lot of the positive initiatives that were developed in Southill. They filmed it all but only showed the negative stuff on TV.

Ilovelimerick.com went to Southill to show the positive community projects and to Moyross for the opening of a garden and a rap and dance competition.
Not just to show the rest of the country and the world that Limerick isn't such a bad place but also to show Limerick people that there's a lot more to those areas than you see in the press.
National press wasn't interested in these positive things. They were invited but never showed up.
There were even occasions that even regional and local media didn't bother to show up and ilovelimerick was the only media present and got it out there.
See how many facebook friends ilovelimerick has. The youtube films get a lot of hits too from people from all over the world.
Ilovelimerick.com got a national award. Richard was able to talk about Limerick on TV3. Ilovelimerick.com gets noticed nationally. So it's not just selling it to the Limerick people.

Anyway, my 5 cents. Just wanted to show you the other side as I am an insider and can tell you a bit more of what's really going on. Haven't even told half of it. And I'm not saying that Richard doesn't make any mistakes or can't be a pain in the arse at times. He's human. If I had to deal with all the hate mails and negative reactions he gets as well from ignorant people because he's out there, and obviously gay, I would have packed it in long time ago. Fair f*cking play to Richard for having the vision to start ilovelimerick.com and sticking with it. A well deserved award.

digitaldolf

Like I said. You don't have a clue. And I don't mean that as an insult or just directed to you. Anyone who forms an opinion about Richard by his appearance on stage or in the media hasn't a clue about what he does when the cameras are off.
About giving the award away: don't be daft. He was nominated, got the award and accepted. The only thing you can do without offending anyone involved. The other nominees should have gotten the award as well. They all deserved it. But once you get it you can't give it to someone else. That's condescending.

Savage Henry wrote: »

So we are not giving him enough credit now is it? Christ you couldn't make this **** up.

Maybe he should give Tina the award then if he feels so strongly about it.

xsiborg

digitaldolf wrote: »

[far too much personal information]

you're taking this FAR too personally, this ISN'T a thread about Richard Lynch as a personal friend, this is a thread moreso about what it takes to be the Limerick Person of the Year. So lets take a look at that:

and i could only watch the first three minutes of this one:

speaks volumes really, Richard deserves his rubber medal.

Roadend

Bloody Hell, I remember when Ron Hogan was voted one of limerick's sexiest men, why would anyone take a klind bit of notice of this two bit "award", next.......

The Snipe

I love how my name is in the credits there on the ILL video :P

xsiborg

XiledSniper wrote: »

I love how my name is in the credits there on the ILL video :P

that'll be the "Richard Lynch Effect" rubbing off in you there sniper, he loves having his name plastered all over the media too!

Kess73

xsiborg wrote: »

that'll be the "Richard Lynch Effect" rubbing off in you there sniper, he loves having his name plastered all over the media too!

Good man, Xsiborg. I was looking for some sort of angle by which I could blame things on Sniper.

Bloody Sniper and his self promoting ways.:D

xsiborg

Kess73 wrote: »

Good man, Xsiborg. I was looking for some sort of angle by which I could blame things on Sniper.

Bloody Sniper and his self promoting ways.:D

fairness to sniper though, he's got the moves like jagger!

check him out in the video, rockin' them specs, specksy fecker!

Kess73

xsiborg wrote: »

fairness to sniper though, he's got the moves like jagger!

check him out in the video, rockin' them specs, specksy fecker!

Shame his moves are like the 68 year old Jagger and not a 28 year old Jagger.

iguana

digitaldolf wrote: »

It's quite simple you know.
The better Richard gets known, the more he can do for charities.

It's not that simple you know. That only works if the person who is well known is highly likeable, extremely skillful at cultivating a love-to-hate-'em personality, stunningly attractive or an actual celebrity. If they come across as someone who is mostly just interested in being on camera and 'famous' only for being famous they will turn people off and can do more harm than good.

Richard is the latter. I'm not saying he isn't a great guy on a personal level and I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place but he turns the public off. People in general really, really dislike his persona so that persona is not really going to help anyone or anything.

I've done quite a lot of professional charity fundraising and campaigning work and I know full well how this works. People who are perceived as caring more for their own profile don't garner support from ordinary people. They aren't impressive and they annoy people. So yes Richard's presence might get a few local press photographers to attend an event they may not have been otherwise interested in. But that is no good whatsoever if the people reading the paper see his picture and as a result don't bother to read about what is being promoted.

Savage Henry

Precisely. And for every video that is actually somewhat related to promoting Limerick, there is two more like this one:

Someone pass me the sick bucket...

digitaldolf

xsiborg wrote: »

you're taking this FAR too personally, this ISN'T a thread about Richard Lynch as a personal friend, this is a thread moreso about what it takes to be the Limerick Person of the Year.

No, I was also talking about what it takes to be Limerick person of the year. And I clearly stated that there's a lot more going on when the cameras are off. But I rest my case cause you people seem to only want to see what you want to see. I can tell already by your choice of videos. That's fine. Not going to waste anymore time on this. I made my point. There's videos out there that show a lot better what ilovelimerick does for the community. Not going to bother putting them up here. You can see for yourself on the ilovelimerick.com website. And to Savage Henry I would like to say: what's wrong with the video about Celia? Someone here on this thread even said that Celia did a lot to promote Limerick on a national level. So why not honour that? Pure begrudgery. Really sad. Sorry, don't like your attitude.
There's plenty of people who appreciate Richard for what he does and what we do with ilovelimerick.com. That's what matters. And if you don't like the videos, well, don't watch them. :P

source

digitaldolf wrote: »

No, I was also talking about what it takes to be Limerick person of the year. And I clearly stated that there's a lot more going on when the cameras are off. But I rest my case cause you people seem to only want to see what you want to see. I can tell already by your choice of videos. That's fine. Not going to waste anymore time on this. I made my point. There's videos out there that show a lot better what ilovelimerick does for the community. Not going to bother putting them up here. You can see for yourself on the ilovelimerick.com website. And to Savage Henry I would like to say: what's wrong with the video about Celia? Someone here on this thread even said that Celia did a lot to promote Limerick on a national level. So why not honour that? Pure begrudgery. Really sad. Sorry, don't like your attitude.
There's plenty of people who appreciate Richard for what he does and what we do with ilovelimerick.com. That's what matters. And if you don't like the videos, well, don't watch them. :P

And this is why Digitaldolf is getting his/her back up on this thread. They're obviously taking it as a personal attack, when it's not.

As has been said, fair play to you for getting of your arses and trying something. But it doesn't change the fact that Richard didn't win for any of the things you have been peddling here. He won for:

Savage Henry wrote: »

2. Richard Lynch, whose tireless efforts at promoting Limerick through his ILoveLimerick.com brand have helped to reclaim the region’s reputation;

Face it, the people he thinks love him, don't, most find him and the videos on ilovelimerick.com irritating. The majority of the videos have nothing to do with promoting Limerick and just promote Richard and the other Limerick "in crowd".

The reason given for him being eligible for the "award" is the one quoted above, and this doesn't even come near to being a shadow of what the others have done to deserve the title.

xsiborg

digitaldolf wrote: »

No, I was also talking about what it takes to be Limerick person of the year.

that was my point, YOU weren't talking about what it takes to be awarded Limerick Person of the Year, but the rest of us were, and if you removed the chip from your shoulder that's obviously blocking your eyesight, you'd see that too. the general reaction is one of surprise, as it makes one wonder just what ARE the criteria for Limerick Person of the Year, if climbing one of the tallest mountains in the world or raising a million euro for charity isn't deemed worthy of the title, but a Z-list celebrity spotter is? i genuinely AM confused, and i would more than welcome your input on that question, instead of telling me just how great you think Richard is in private as a personal friend. there are people that think im an árse too, but i dont take it personally, im sure my opinion wont bother Richard that much either, as by now i know he is media savvy enough to ignore anonymous critique posted on the internet.

digitaldolf wrote: »

And I clearly stated that there's a lot more going on when the cameras are off.

i wouldn't doubt that for a second, and i understand from people i have talked to that Richard works tirelessly in private to promote limerick charities and events, but this is not a thread about Richard, nor Richards personal or private life.

other posters in this thread have already stated that they too work tirelessly for charities and to promote limerick and all the positive aspects of limerick, but we do so too when there are no cameras on us, so your point really about what Richard does when the cameras are off, is effectively a moot point.

digitaldolf wrote: »

But I rest my case cause you people seem to only want to see what you want to see.

as opposed to the cameraman who shows us only what Richard wants us to see? i've seen it, im still not impressed. lets take a look at that list again:

1. Joe Cunningham, who is credited with introducing adaptive rowing to clubs around Ireland, and thus improving the lives of people with disabilities immensely;
2. Richard Lynch, whose tireless efforts at promoting Limerick through his ILoveLimerick.com brand have helped to reclaim the region’s reputation;
3. Sarah Hurley, who battled to restore respite services for adults with intellectual disabilities;
4. the Bruff senior team who lifted the Bateman All-Ireland Cup in April;
5. Mount Everest summiteer Mark Quinn, who climbed the world’s tallest peak for charity;
6. Wimbledon and US Open qualifying tennis player Conor Niland;
Special Olympian Alan Quinlan, who brought home six medals to his native Cappamore;
7. Ann Boland, who lost her 14 year old son David to a sever asthma attack in 2005 and has campaigned tirelessly for schools and sports clubs across Limerick to be equipped with vital medical equipment;
8. Margaret O’Shaughnessy long serving director of Foynes Flying Boat Museum;
9. Tina O’Gorman who reached her target of €1 million for local charities in October;
10. nine-year-old Adam O’Sullivan from Abbeyfeale whose singing exploits have helped raise €50,000 for sick children;
11. the voluntary rescue service team - CERT - who patrol the Shannon to search for missing people.



i would have far more liked to see these people's achievements highlighted when i visit the ilovelimerick page, than the latest trends in spectacles available from nationwide opticians.

i would have far more liked to see these people's achievements highlighted when i visit the ilovelimerick page, than see Richard whinge about not having had his coffee that morning.

how, i ask you, are either of these videos, promoting Limerick?

Richard's ilovelimerick website is nothing more than a badly patched together hangover from the days of bebo templates, and as such, is incredibly difficult to navigate or to glean anything actually useful or interesting about Limerick, save for the "this is limerick" video that in itself is only a recent addition to the site.

honestly if the image of Limerick that the organisers of this award deem to be "reclaimed" is that of a city that is disorganised, chaotic, camp, unprofessional, pandering, narcissistic, childish...

then by all means, the ilovelimerick "branding" has indeed served it's purpose.

digitaldolf wrote: »

That's fine. Not going to waste anymore time on this. I made my point.

well that's not very civil of you to dash in, post, and then dart out again, from one of the most influential Limerick related forums on the internet. Richard as he himself proclaims, is an expert in social media, so for you do "fart on the forum and leave the room" so to speak, does not leave a good impression on the audience you may have hoped to have won around- ie; the people of Limerick.

digitaldolf wrote: »

There's plenty of people who appreciate him for what he does and what we do with ilovelimerick.com. That's what matters.
And if you don't like the videos, well, don't watch them. :P

erm, isn't the whole point of ilovelimerick to promote limerick? how would you hope to achieve this if people cannot bear to watch your videos?

here's a quick tip and i'll leave it at this- "less Richard on camera, more Limerick on camera".

Savage Henry

No what is sad is that people are actually fooled by what is essentially a self-promotion platform for the usual suspects and their cronies. It is just a circle jerk for people that like to think of themselves as being important.

Big fish in a small pond syndrome and people lap it up and stroke their ego's even more.

Pathetic but not all that surprising.

I've had my say.

Joseph of Arimathea

From reading the ILOVELIMERICK website and Facebook page it seems to help charities, diverse cultural and community groups publicise what they are doing, get them media access by organising photographers to cover press launches and events. Videos they have made helped one community group get a very substantial donation from The JP McManus Charitable Foundation and many of the groups that they have helped since its inception seem to be very appreciative.
Richard Lynch is obviously the public face of ILOVELIMERICK and as such is a target for begrudgers who prefer to be keyboard warriors who carp about someone doing something positive about Limerick, get over yourselves and stop being negative for a change continually giving vent to your jealously at the success of others.

source

Joseph of Arimathea wrote: »

From reading the ILOVELIMERICK website and Facebook page it seems to help charities, diverse cultural and community groups publicise what they are doing, get them media access by organising photographers to cover press launches and events. Videos they have made helped one community group get a very substantial donation from The JP McManus Charitable Foundation and many of the groups that they have helped since its inception seem to be very appreciative.
Richard Lynch is obviously the public face of ILOVELIMERICK and as such is a target for begrudgers who prefer to be keyboard warriors who carp about someone doing something positive about Limerick, get over yourselves and stop being negative for a change continually giving vent to your jealously at the success of others.

Members of this forum have been involved in the organisation of a 4 day festival which raised thousands for charity, the lead organiser was our very own Zuroph, other members here were involved in the running of the festival. Calling us begrudgers, jealous and keyboard warriors just shows that you have no idea what you're saying or who you're talking to.

Also the festival which went on for 4 days in the city culminating in a parade through the city wasn't covered by ilovelimerick.com, because the organiser wasn't part of the Limerick "in crowd". Now I'm not whinging about the lack of coverage, I'm just using it as an example to show you that we're not just keyboard warriors, whining on an internet forum.

The coverage wasn't needed, as Zuroph went out of his way to contact the National media, and they couldn't get enough of him or the idea, he even did an interview in UL with a well known radio DJ.

While you believe ilovelimerick.com is doing a great job, the rest of the population either don't care because they see it as a closed clique, or don't know it exists.

EDIT: I do have to say that I love how all the low post crusaders come on when their friend is talked about negatively. Guys if someone puts themselves out in the public eye, and then get an award like this over much more deserving people, then they're going to get negative comments. That's part of being in the public eye.

The options are, deal with it and move on, or don't put yourselves out there for public critique.

Kess73

Joseph of Arimathea wrote: »

From reading the ILOVELIMERICK website and Facebook page it seems to help charities, diverse cultural and community groups publicise what they are doing, get them media access by organising photographers to cover press launches and events. Videos they have made helped one community group get a very substantial donation from The JP McManus Charitable Foundation and many of the groups that they have helped since its inception seem to be very appreciative.
Richard Lynch is obviously the public face of ILOVELIMERICK and as such is a target for begrudgers who prefer to be keyboard warriors who carp about someone doing something positive about Limerick, get over yourselves and stop being negative for a change continually giving vent to your jealously at the success of others.

At least be honest and admit you have some link to I love Limerick rather than coming on and pretending that you just read that website and decided to post here as your first post on Boards.

Why are you getting so personal with your insults? Most people on this thread have been pretty clear that they are saying nothing negative about what R Lynch is like in private as most don't know what he is like when there is not a camera around. R Lynch has created a public persona which he uses when on camera and for most on here this is what people have to go on. Plus as the man himself is who puts that persona into the public domain then he is the one who is setting it up for praise or criticism.

Fair enough defend your friend if someone makes a personal attack on him, but if you read the thread you will see that those who attacked his name on a personal level have been banned. Is it too much to ask that those coming on from I love Limerick show the same respect and not try to turn the thread into a slanging match?

Also what most people are questioning is why he won the award over the achievements of some of the other people on the list because to be honest some of the other achievements are pretty damn impressive in national terms let alone in terms of of small city/town like Limerick.

So defend your friend all you like, but at least be honest about him being a friend of yours. And please keep in mind what I said about most of us going by the public persona that R Lynch himself puts into the public domain in terms of how we see the man.

Savage Henry

If you think the people defending him here are being too personal with the insults you should see the comment section of The Honest Limerickman blog entry on this. Though there are also some very interesting comments regarding Mr. Lynch himself.

Clareman

Folks,

This thread seems to have hit a nerve with a lot of people and there have been a lot of allegations made about people, their characters or their motives, I can't see any point in leaving this thread open any long.

Congratulations to the Limerick Person of the year and I'd like to suggest that anyone that has a problem with the winner to do their best to win next years award.